16toads Design

Tell us more about you, your company and what do you do?

16toads Design is an award-winning independent creative agency located in Atlanta, GA. We offer a wide array of services, but our sweet-spot is superb custom web design and development with a strong focus on usability and web standard.

How did you find out about activeCollab? What were your first impressions?

We adopted activeCollab back in 2006 (when it was an open source application) after an extensive online search for a project management tool we could host on our own server. First impressions? We've stuck with aC for a good many years now, so it is safe to conclude our first impression with activeCollab was a good one.

How were you managing projects before activeCollab? Email, pen and paper, another project management tool?

There was no such thing as a "project management app" for the first decade we were in business, so we made due with what we had to work with — a dry erase board, desk calendars, faxes, phone calls, emails, Entourage, a painful stint with Basecamp, and finally, activeCollab. Our workflow has improved dramatically over the past three and half years.

How did activeCollab help you improve your team's collaboration? What are the tools you use the most? If you were asked to pick one "killer feature" which one would it be?

Having a centralized web-based repository for our projects and related files has been an indispensable asset, especially since our "team" isn't always under the same roof. Tickets and Tasks, obviously, are the most used tool(s) in aC, followed by Milestones and ToDo Lists. We haven't had enough time to gauge client response to the new email improvements, but it is safe to say this improvement will wind up near the top of the "killer feature" list.

What do coworkers think? How have they adjusted to activeCollab?

Our clients have generally been impressed, if for no other reason than the warm and fuzzy feeling they get from a creative vendor who appreciates organization. We do our best to force our clients to utilize aC, but their initial usage invariably tapers off once they get "tired" of having to access our project site to send an email or update a project.

Thank you for your time! Anything you have to add?

We owe a debt of gratitude to Ilija and his team for their superlative customer service over the past four years, not to mention for developing a product that helps our studio maintain a roster of happy clients. There really is not much more we can say other than "thank you". ActiveCollab helps us provide an uncommon level of professionalism and service to our clients; as a partial result of the organization this tool provides, we wind up looking like rock stars.